Bream, Perch Snap Summer Doldrums

September 21, 1986|By Tom Pinnock of the Sentinel Staff

Temperatures are cooling, which means that fish that have been hiding from the hot summer sun are starting to become more active.

Bream and speckled perch fishing already has picked up in Lake Monroe and Lake Jesup. Thomas Porter and Mike Haymons from Ormond Beach used live crickets and worms to catch 63 bream in Lake Monroe this week.

After hearing about all the bream being caught, Chuck Gibson came down from Deltona and almost caught his limit out of Monroe two days in a row. But the bream champ of the week is Randy Jones, Sanford. Setting out on Lake Jesup Friday morning, Jones caught his limit of 50 bream before noon.

Dell Abernethy of the Osteen Bridge Fish Camp says the top spot for speckled perch is the old river channel near Lake Monroe. Live minnows, hooked through the lips, are the best bet for bait.

Vary the depth of the bobber until you find the right setting. For relaxing fishing, troll beetlespins and maybe you will luck into a school of specs.

Though most anglers are delighted with the sudden activity, Abernethy reports that bass fishing in the St. Johns River is still only fair. The ones that are coming in, says Abernethy, are on the small side.

He says most of the schooling bass are hitting along the points south of the Osteen Bridge. Keep in mind that shallow-diving lipped plugs that resemble injured bait fish are deadly for schooling bass.

But if you're determined to go after the lunkers, try tossing live shiners into openings in the lily pads. Just remember that you'll need heavy line to haul a bruiser out of pads and weeds.

Harold Carpenter of the Wekiva River Haven says that anglers haven't been catching much out of the river this week. Carpenter blames the rising water. He says the high water has introduced the fish to all kinds of new feeding grounds, which means they're now either too stuffed to bite or too hard to find.

Despite the slow showing in the rivers, some folks have been doing real well in area lakes, especially the small ones.

D.J. Hewitt pulled in a 10-pound, 4-ounce ''hawg'' out of an Osteen lake that isn't much bigger than a doughnut. That catch was followed by another dandy out of an Osteen lake -- a 9-pound, 12-ounce bass netted by Eddie Bussard.